This weekend it was time to go scuba diving in Rovinj again. This time there was something special on the menu. We went to the Baron Gautsch wreck.
As usual, we did two dives, the second one on a nearby reef Rubinum. The weather was nice and hot and the water was still quite warm too.
Baron Gautsch
Baron Gautsch is one of the more known wrecks in Croatia. It is still in fair condition and allows for easy swim-throughs. It is a protected wreck which means, only specific dive centers are allowed to take the divers there.
The wreck starts at a depth of 28 meters and goes down to almost 40 meters. If you have a chance, it is definitely worth considering going with nitrox as it will allow you more bottom time. Every minute counts a lot in my opinion, especially on such dive sites.
Although I don’t have much experience with wreck diving this is currently my top one. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. And I think I still need to go at least two times to fully experience it.
As my setup is made for macro photography I didn’t really do much photographing on the wreck. There are a lot of good pictures available on the internet that I simply can’t match. I did try a bit of filming that I normally don’t do. And here you can see the result.
First a back-roll entry from the boat.
And a short clip from a swim through the second level of the wreck on the right side, going from the bow to the stern.
Besides the wreck itself, there were countless fish, nudibranchs, and other organisms. It was simply too much to photograph it all so I rather enjoyed the dive and did a few short videos.
To be specific, there were several large common dentexes (Dentex dentex) swimming above the ship. And just when we started to go up to the safety stop, a large European conger (Conger conger) came to greet us. It was easily 1,5 meters in length which puts it at the higher end of what they grow to.
Nudibranchs
While the reef Rubinum was nice I think it was a bit overshadowed by the Baron Gautsch dive. But I did get a chance to take a few nice photos here so everything has its pros and cons.
First a couple of pictures of a Felimare orsiini. I find them in groups of two quite often and sure enough there was a second one nearby. They were about 15 mm in length which means they were fully grown.
Next a photo of a Flabellina pedata. I think this one was positioned quite nicely. It allowed me to get a dark background which means the Flabellina really stands out.
And lastly a few photographs of a Flabellina ischitana. There are three different slugs in the pictures.
Conclusion
The Baron Gautsch wreck was definitely the highlight of the day. Not only the wreck itself but the organisms we saw there also. I would definitely recommend it and I am sure I will go again if I have the chance.
Not as many pictures as usual this time but I think the two videos make up for it.
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